Sister in Iraq... again!

As most of you know, Tonya had to make yet another return trip to Iraq this month. She has been initially scheduled for a 6 month tour, but we'll hope for an early return!

Below is a pic she sent during deployment flying over on a C130 on 15Jan2007. Hopefully she'll continue sending pics.

This trip is probably one of the most dangerous so far. She's been deployed in Kirkuk at a small medical base that has just 10 beds. I guess it's about 120 miles north of Bagdag. Once they stabilize the person they airlift them out to a larger base. I guess it's basically like the old TV show M*A*S*H. She's been busy non-stop since she's been there. Enough that she was tired enough to sleep through 1 of 3 car bombs the other day! Not good! If anyone would like to send her a "care package" please let me know and I'll send you her address. She said they found barrels of peanut butter, but she wants some Welche's grape/strawberry jelly. Other items are good too, like gum, candy, pictures, letters, etc.

I LOVE YOU SIS! GET HOME SOON!

It looks like a ball of speghetti

Well, I'm half way done with the re-wiring of the Vette. I have 1 easy harness left, the rear lamp assy. The other is the dash harness which will most-likely be the hardest of all 4! It looks like a ball of speghetti in there!

Tonight I plan to do a little bit of painting in the garage and install the rear lamp harness.

I have the engine and forward lamp harnesses in. See pics below for comparison! (Old forward lamp harness, and new forward lamp harness.)

1st snow

Today brought the 1st snowfall at our new home in VA. Julz and Thane played a bit while I snapped some photos. It started snowing around noon. I didn't realize it until I came in for lunch since I was working in the garage.

The garage now has insulated doors and a heater! It'll be a comfortable place to work on the car. For the car, I'm still waiting for the rest of my order to arrive. I only received 1 of the 4 wire harnesses. However, I have plenty of time now since there is salt on the road. I will not be driving it again until the salt is gone.

Blogger update

I have joined Photobucket and can now post videos. My link at the end of August in the post "It's alive" now works. Go check out the 1st start of the engine! I've also posted a video of it running (cold start in the garage) now with the exhaust installed and drivable. It has Hooker Comp Headers with 2-1/2" exhaust and Flowmaster 40 mufflers. Car running

No work, yet a lot of work

No work today due to MLK day. My employer decided to take away one of our 2 floating holidays and make us take MLK day off. Don't quite agree with that at all! Why don't we have a holiday for JFK, or yet the 9/11 incident?! Anyhow, I started painting some of the garage with primer and put some more mud over the crappy job by the builder, Dan Ryan Homes. Please DO NOT BUY FROM THIS BUILDER! YOU WILL REGRET IT! I also drove the vette to a classic car restoration company to get a quick look of their shop and a slight idea of a cost I might expect for body work and paint. I'll be meeting with him again once I get all the paint and primer off the car down to the glass. THen they'll be able to give me a good estimate of cost and time. I'm also continuing to work on the basement and I am nearing the completion of the bike shop area. Yesterday Julz got a good photo of Thane being goofy (see below). He was chasing his dog while playing his harmonica, then I heard him on his horse. I yelled at Julz to go get the camera...it was too funny!

Resto update

Not much to say. Below are a few picks of my heater core replacement. No problems until I was re-installing the bolt on the bottom inner decided to snap off as I was tightening it down! However, it is in tight enough for now. I'll have to remove it again when I replace everything in the dash, like wiring, and I'll fix it then.

Photo Update

Here are a few photos of the car in the garage with a fresh coat of epoxy floor paint. I'm currently prepping the drywall for paint. I hope to have it done this weekend to sand and apply primer.

I'm also working on the basement for a finished play area for Thane and friends, as well as a bike shop area. I also applied the extra epoxy floor paint to the shop floor area.

Season's Greetings!

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! We hope you all received our X-mas card!?

We hope you all had a nice holiday and were able to take some time off from your work. We were very busy, and being back at work almost feels like a vacation compared to the last 2 weeks. It began with the builder of our new home coming in to fix the problems with our new home that were not finished/fixed prior to our closing. Which they are still not done! We then had our family X-mas prior to leaving home to visit the families. Then it was off to Michigan.

Our 1st stop was across the street from our previous home visiting our good friends Bernie and Nikki. They were kind enough to have us while we were in-town for Julie’s doctor visit and my dentist visit. I had chipped a molar that was previously done with an overlay, similar to a crown, back in September while eating dinner in China. Then about a week before the X-mas break I discovered another piece just fell out. This piece ended up creating a void between the molar and the wisdom tooth for food to compact into. Well Long story short the dentist here wanted to pull the wisdom tooth and re-do it with a crown and the previous dentist fixed it as is and for free!

We then left from there and headed to Ohio to see the in-laws. The 3 of us all came down with a cold, mine was drainage of the sinus’ which caused a caugh. This was bad as every cough made it feel as though my tooth was popping out! It finally subsided by X-mas. We also visited with my sister and family, as Tonya is preparing to head back to Iraq for another tour of duty. This trip is to be at least 6 months. I think she is heading to Tikrit, north of Bagdag. This will be her longest tour yet, and I think it is her 5th, all previous trips have been no more than 2 months. My parents get the joy of watching her 2 kids at her home in Ft. Wayne. They are not happy as they should be in their new home enjoying retirement in SC on the lake. We then left returning home the afternoon of the day after X-mas.

Once home we tried to relax for a day and unpack from the trip. We forgot a fish tank for Thane that Bob and Judy gave to us while we were loading the truck. So, after getting all excited, we had to go to Wal-Mart and buy a small tank for the interim. They plan to visit in a few months and they will bring it with them.

I’ve also started working on finishing the basement. I have a main dividing wall in place and I am nearing completion of the bike shop area in the rear of the basement. I also painted ½ of the garage floor and the bike shop area. I plan to paint the other half of the garage possibly this weekend, since the temps are to be approaching 70 and no lower than 50! I sure don’t miss the MI weather!

Also in the house I have ran the surround sound system and had internet installed. We just need to find something to cover the wires to be able to paint them to match the wall color to have them blend in and not be as noticeable. I also ran a coax cable from the TV into the basement so I can watch the Bowl games while working.

Tonight I’ll be working on the Vette again. Matt will be coming over after work to lend a hand. I have a small leak at the rear of the engine where the intake meats the block. I need to remove the intake and re-install it. This time I will not use the rubber gaskets, only silicone and the crush gaskets. I also still need to get the oil pressure gauge and temp gauge connected to the car’s gauges. This is a top priority before I begin driving it long distances, as I cannot tell how warm the engine is getting.

One final note…After returning from a short 30min road ride last night I discovered that I received an email from the 24Hrs of Adrenalin. I’ve been invited back to the World Championships. My last race with them was 2yrs ago at the US Nat’ls where I let a mechanical end my race. I truly believe I was the best racer, and If I’d finished I would’ve easily won the race, but that’ll never be known. Anyhow, this year’s event is to be held at that same venue at Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA. This course is a great flowing course and the climbs will be very manageable for me while competing on a Single Speed this time! Julie and I are still discussing it and plan to make our decision by the end of the month! We’ll be able to fly there on my flyer miles so the cost of the trip will be fairly low. Maybe I’ll be able to solicit an event sponsor to pick up the tab for the rental car or entry fee!? Let me know if you have any interested parties!

I’ll be posting photos again within a few days of things noted in our update. Keep in touch!

08 December 2006 - Recording cancelled

Well the PC called and cancelled on me just as I was preparing to leave Tues night! Apparently they waited until then to review what I sent them for my counter-suit last Fri. They then decided it was too much for them to handle. I guess they can't handle dealing with an actual case with real issues that need resolved that have a detailed list with facts! I imagine, as in most of the reality shows, they are just looking for the rediculous, throw-out cases strictly for entertainment!Oh well, I guess I'll wait and see if I get served. Apparently they find these things in public records in area courts. So, he must've filed with his court in NJ. They sent me a copy of his filing, but it did not have any dates or case numbers. They stated all that they heard was late December.

01 December 2006 - Duuh-da-da…da^-dunt….

SIT DOWN!!! You are about to get a big laugh!

I received a letter in the mail from People’s Court! Yes, seriously, the TV show! Apparently it is claiming that Mr. PJ Vinch III, the person who sold us our Vette, has filed a small claims suit against me. I have no idea what this guy is thinking! This is absurd! I paid him every dollar as per our agreement, and have it all documented. If anyone was to sue someone it would be me against him for failure to supply all the goods promised with the sale, and for the false advertisement in his add about the condition of the vehicle and parts! I actually threatened to take him to court a couple of months ago because of his failure to follow through as promised. My cousin, the officer, was even there to witness his continued promises. I chose not to mainly due to time and hassle since it was the same time I was traveling the world for work. We were also dealing with the house situation. I have all of our email correspondence and the receipts from buying all the parts and work on the engine just to get it to start. He has no legs to stand on!

Anyhow, this letter is a 1 page write-up asking me to call-in and discuss my side of the case. I would definitely do it if they were to pay me up-front and put in writing they would not make me look ridiculous unless of course it was a large amount of money! Last thing I want is to be on world TV and made a fool of like the American Idol contestants. But then maybe this would open up my movie career I always wanted!? Hahaha

The letter claims there is a suit filed. I have yet to be served by a real court. It states that if we do this the People’s Court pays all of the court fees and judgments. Basically if some ridiculous reason if he were to win I would not pay a dime, but if he lost, as he should, I would be given the amount claimed. Julie and mom both think this is ridiculous that I shouldn’t do it…What are your comments?! I have called-in but I had to leave a voicemail. My first question will be “What suit has been filed against me?”, as there is no explanation for his suit on this letter. Then I will ask why he doesn’t do it in a real court. Most-likely because the court would throw it out!!

Anyhow, send me your comments! I’ve not stopped laughing since last night!!! hahahahahahahahaha